Facts
Ali Bin Fadhul Al-Buainain began his career as public minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain in 1985. He became public prosecutor of Bahrain on 24 December 2005. He has a PhD in criminal law.
In February 2011, there was a period of civil unrest in Bahrain, highlighted by an uprising calling for political reform. On 15 March 2011, the government declared a state of emergency. National security courts were established and given legal powers. The military prosecutor was entrusted to carry out legal proceedings.
On 1 June 2011, the state of national security was lifted. In parallel, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) was created to investigate violations against human rights that took place during the protests. On 23 November 2011, the BICI published its report, insisting on the need to proceed with reforms to the judicial system, particularly the criminal authorities.
Throughout the uprising, numerous human rights defenders were arrested and allegedly tortured; one of them, Jaafar Al-Hasabi, a British citizen born in Bahrain, was arrested in August 2010, allegedly detained incommunicado, and tortured for his political activities. He was allegedly victim of electric shocks, beatings on the sole of his feet and stress position. Al-Hasabi appeared before the court of national security with 22 other political opponents for belonging to, and for financing, a terrorist group aiming at the overthrown of the government.
Although the United Nations expressed concern regarding Jaafar Al-Hasabi’s secret detention and the risk that he would be tortured, the attorney general of Bahrain authorized twice the extension of his detention, allowing the torture to continue. Al-Hasabi was freed in February 2011.
Procedure
On 8 September 2015, Jaafar Al-Hasabi filed a criminal complaint in Bern against the attorney general of Bahrain, Ali Bin Fadhul Al-Buainain, for facilitating torture. He was supported by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), REDRESS, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and TRIAL International.
On 13 September 2015, an application was filed with the Bern prosecutor, calling for the attorney general to be summoned for interviewing. The complaint was filed in anticipation of his attendance at the annual conference of the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) being held that year in Switzerland from 13 to 17 September, at which he was elected vice president of the organization.
On 15 September 2015, the prosecutor issued a decision stating that an investigation would be opened but that the evidentiary threshold for a summons had not yet been met. Ali Bin Fadhul Al-Buainain was allowed to return to Bahrain without questioning.
In June 2016, torture survivor Jaafar Al-Hasabi gave testimony to prosecutors in Bern concerning the Bahraini attorney general’s alleged complicity in acts of torture.
In November 2016, the Swiss prosecutors submitted an application to the Swiss Federal Office of Justice seeking to transfer the case to prosecution authorities in Bahrain. This application was rejected, and the case reverted to the Swiss authorities.
Ali Bin Fadhul Al-Buainain was expected to visit Ireland to attend an IAP conference in Dublin in September 2016. Jaafar Al-Hasabi brought a private prosecution application before the District Court in Dublin on 13 September 2016 requesting that the attorney general be summoned in connection with the allegations of torture. The application was rejected, with the judge arguing that a sufficient link between the acts of torture and the alleged involvement of the accused had not been established. Police in Ireland opened a parallel investigation into the matter, which is still ongoing. Jaafar Al-Hasabi’s complaint was supported by GLAN (Global Legal Action Network), BIRD (Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy), ECCHR, and REDRESS.
The criminal investigation is ongoing in Switzerland.